NVSC Betting Odds 13
|withdraw = |disqualified = |vote = Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favorite songs |null = None |winner = "Falling For You" |nex = 14 |pre = 12 |size = 300px | Green = Y | Green SA = | Purple = | Red = Y | Yellow = Y|image = }} North Vision Song Contest 13, often referred to as NVSC 13 was the 13th edition of the North Vision Song Contest. Following the win of Kokoro in the previous edition, this edition was hosted in Tel Aviv, Israel. IBA chose the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv to host the edition while Mei Finegold was selected as the only presenter of the contest for both Semi-finals and Grand Final. Fifty-three countries participated in the edition with Algeria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Montenegro and San Marino returning to the contest after withdrawing the last edition. Slovenia returned after two editions break. There were two withdrawing countries from the edition: Lithuania and Portugal didn't take part due to lack of interest. The winner of the edition was Kazakhstan with the song "Falling For You" performed by A-Studio and Danish singer Tomas which gathered 236 points breaking the record of the most points. Sweden finished as runner-up with 9 points difference from the first place. Germany, Luxembourg and Croatia came third, fourth and fifth respectively making their best result back then. Switzerland got the sixth place remaining in the Big 5 which became Big 6 from the next edition. Location Tel Aviv (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב, Arabic: تل أبيب‎) or Tel Aviv-Yafo, is the second most populous city in Israel, behind Jerusalem, with a population of 414,600. Tel Aviv forms part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, also known as Gush Dan, which constitutes Israel's largest metropolitan area so as to house 3,464,100 residents, 42% of the country's population. Tel Aviv-Yafo is the largest and most populous section of the metropolitan area. The city is located on the Mediterranean coast in central-west Israel and is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai. Tel Aviv is home to many foreign embassies. Residents of Tel Aviv are referred to as Tel Avivim or by the singulars: Tel Avivi (for males) and Tel Avivit (for females). Tel Aviv was founded by the Jewish community on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ Yafo) in 1909. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa's, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings. Tel Aviv is a global city, a technological and economic hub, home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, corporate offices and research and development centers. It is the country's financial capital and a major performing arts and business center. Tel Aviv has the second-largest economy in the Middle East after Dubai, and is the 31st most expensive city in the world. With 2.5 million international visitors annually, Tel Aviv is the fifth-most-visited city in the Middle East. Known as "The City that Never Sleeps" and a "party capital", it has a lively nightlife, dynamic atmosphere and a famous 24-hour culture. Format Semi-final allocation draw The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 28 February 2015. The six pots were the following: Running order draw The draw that determined the running order of the edition took place on 12 March 2015 at the town hall in Tel Aviv. Two countries from each semi-final and a big 5 country received a wildcard and could select their starting position at their half (first or second). Lebanon and Andorra got the wildcards from the first semi-final, the United Kingdom and Italy got the wildcards from the second semi-final while Azerbaijan got the wildcard of the big 5. During the running order draw, the semi-final of the pre-qualification round qualifier was also determined. The running order draw for the semi-final qualifiers took place after the results of each semi-final with each of the qualifiers drawing their starting position. Participating countries Fifty-three countries participated in the edition breaking the previous record of fifty-two countries. 7 countries returned; Algeria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Montenegro and San Marino returned after one edition break except of Slovenia which returned after two editions. Both Lithuania and Portugal were revealed to not be participating in the edition; Lithuania cited lack of interest while Portugal withdrew from the contest due to lack of interest and bad results. A return for the fourteenth edition hadn't been ruled out. Returning artists Mária Čírová, who represented Slovakia in the fourth edition, won the Slovakian selection of the edition and therefore returned to represent her country. Stella Kalli returned to represent Cyprus for second time after doing so in the seventh edition. Diana Gurtskaya returned representing Georgia for second time after participating in the eighth edition. The first Albanian and Finnish representatives, Kejsi Tola and Haloo Helsinki!, returned to represent their countries for second time. Tamta, who previously represented Georgia in the third edition, returned representing Greece this time while Marina and The Diamonds who represented Greece in the fifth edition, returned to represent the United Kingdom this time. Results Other countries Countries that are active members of the North Broadcasting Union (NBU), are also eligible to participate in the North Vision Song Contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. Fifty-three countries confirmed their participation in the edition. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below. Active NBU members * : LRT withdrew from the contest, citing lack of interest. * : RTP withdrew from the contest due to lack of interest and bad results. A return for the fourteenth edition hasn't been ruled out. Category:NVSC